Impressive campus and top security measures: Life at the university

Universidad de Los Andes is not only reputed to be the best university of Bogotá but also the one of the best in South America. It is also the most expensive and the most elitist. The tuition costs $3000 a semester in a country where the minimum wage is $200 a month. Having such a financial barrier limits the diversity of the student population to just one class, the wealthy.

The format, the organization and the structure of the university is frightfully similar to Concordia’s. Three credit classes, 2.5 hours a week, 14 week semesters, even the format of their course outlines was exactly the same as Concordia’s. I think either Universities around the world are starting to adopt a similar set of standards or this particular University in order to establish a reputation worldwide, modeled itself after the typical North American University.

While there were many similarities with Concordia, the campus was not one of them. The university had one of the most beautiful campuses that I have ever seen, making even the McGill campus look ugly and boring. With parts looking like small towns in the South of France, other parts like a tropical rainforest, and the buildings being either brand new with splendid views of the city or UNESCO historic heritage, it was always a pleasure going there. All of the classrooms were equipped similarly to the ones at Concordia (projector, computer, speakers …) and all their computer equipment was much more modern then anything I have seen at a university. The only downside is that the campus is located on the bottom of a mountain, which means steep climbing, and at 8 in the morning, when you are already at 2600 meters of altitude, this means that there will be no running to class if you are late, and that even if you take your time you will arrive out of breath as if you had been late.

One downside to this University is the security. Every time I went to the university, I would meet on my way no less then 10 soldiers with very large rifles and about another 10 policemen, backed up by about another 10 private security guards with bomb sniffing dogs. After that, I had to show my ID to a security guard and get my backpack searched before entering.

Once inside the university, at least there are no guns, well that is when they aren’t refilling the ATM when in that case the person in charge of that must feel threatened by the dangerous students and has to carry his shotgun with him. Of course it was not unusual to see 8 – 10 guys wearing dark suits, equipped with radios and dark sunglasses take control of the library at any given time when either of the sons of the current president of Colombia needed to check out a book. One of them got caught cheating during the semester when I was there.
It is unfortunate that the University has to take such security measures but like I said earlier, this place is for the elite, and the elite here are guerilla’s prime target. While the University’s ID can be a lifesaver when confronted by the police, for you are assumed to be the son or daughter of someone rich and powerful, it is also sort of a ‘kidnap-me’ card, if you were ever to encounter guerilla. I know appreciate the fact that one can walk freely into Concordia without having to go through a series of checkpoints.

Although I could critique many aspects of the University, notably its inaccessibility, I must say that that quality of the education provided there is more than excellent.